* a 17 year old woman was very, very drunk at a party in San Jose March 4,2007.

* Witnesses say she was gang raped.

* She was virtually incoherent when she was rescued by three DeAnza students. She could not remember her name. She was covered in vomit. She was 17 years old at the time.

* The door was held closed and her rescuers had to physically force their way into the room.

* There have been many breakdowns in the prosecution of this case, including lack of response from the Santa Clara County Sheriff and District Attorney.

* No one has been prosecuted for this attack nor have any law enforcement officials been held accountable for the gross negligence of the case.

Here’s what we don’t know because the evidence in possession of the District Attorney’s office HAS NOT been tested yet.

* Some of the evidence obtained, including blankets and sheets, have not been tested for DNA. The DA told the lab that further tests were not necessary.

* There were cell phones and movies taken in the room when the attack was occurring that have not been confiscated by law enforcement, let alone investigated.

* According to the SJ Mercury, it took the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office 23 hours to return to the scene of the crime to investigate.

Lauren Chief Elk, one of the rescuers, has filed a civil suit and more information is emerging as a result of this suit. She is a brave woman who has persistently worked for justice through all of this bluster and claims of good investigations and performance. While the DA’s office and even the Attorney General’s office have signed off on the reports so far, there are numerous missing pieces from that night and the attack. Including the accountability of law enforcement and the district attorney’s office.

What is so astounding to me, really, is that it is apparent that the system has failed these young women. You could drive a semi through the holes in this case and still they must fight on for justice. This is 2010 and a gang rape is still being handled as a nuisance case. The women of Santa Clara should be asking if their safety is important to law enforcement. If this case is symptomatic of failures in our infrastructure, when are the hearings going to begin to ask important questions about who responds, how they respond and who is accountable?